By James Martin
Europe Travel Expert, about.com
Barcelona, the capital of the region of Catalonia, is located on the Mediterranean coast in the east of Spain. It is located at 41.40°N Latitude and 2.17°E Longitude. The population of Barcelona in 2003 was around 1.5 million people.
Getting to Barcelona by Air
Barcelona's
Airport is 13 km (8 miles) from the city of Barcelona. It has three
terminals and its airport code is BCN. A taxi takes 20-30 minutes to get
into town and costs 15-25 euros. Train services to the airport are
available every 30 minutes from Clot-Arago, Arc de Triomf, Placa
Catalunya and Barcelona Sants stations. Cost is 2.10 Euros. The Aerobus
runs every 15 minutes from the Plaza Catalunya to the airport. The fee
is €5.30 Euros one-way.
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Be aware that there are two other major airports in the region of Catalonia - Reus (REU) and Girona-Costa Brava (GRO) which Ryanair calls "Girona Barcelona". Both of them are approximately 100km from Barcelona.
Barcelona Train Stations
The two main stations serving Barcelona are Estaciós (stations) Sants and França.
Sants services destinations in Spain and a few
international trains, while most long distance trains (from Geneva,
Milan, Paris and Zurich) depart from Estació França.
Barcelona Bus Stations
Estació
del Nord is the larger of the two. It handles busses to most major
Spanish cities as well as hosting international busses run by
Eurolines/Linebús and Starbus. Location: Carrer d'Alà Bei near the Arc
de Triomf metro station. The Estació d'Autobuses de Sants near the Sants
train station handles buses to Montserrat and international services
operated by Eurolines/Julià Via.
Map showing the bus and train stations of Barcelona: Barcelona Transportation map.
Get a Map
You can get a Barcelona street map from the tourist office or from your hotel. A better option, meaning one I really like, is Crumpled City Maps. Click the link to find out about the Barcelona map.
Tourist Information
Centre d'Informació Turisme de Barcelona in the Plaça de Catalunya, tel: 906 30 12 82
Language
Traveling
in Catalonia can be quite a challenge for those of us who speak a tiny
bit of Spanish but no Catalán, the language of the region. Rest assured
that Barcelona is a major travel destination, so you'll see menus in
both Spainish and Catalán, and many folks speak a bit of English as
well.
Where to Stay
I usually use Venere to book hotels directly. You can search for hotels from a map (the Gothic Quarter, or Barri Gòtic is probably your most evocative quarter), or you can list by guest rating, which I find very useful for picking hotels. Barcelona Hotels - Book Direct from Venere.
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You
don't have to stay in a hotel of course. You can rent a vacation house
or apartment and spread out, eat from the fabulous markets, and have
family and friends join you. HomeAway lists over 800 Vacation rentals in Barcelona, Spain.
Barcelona Weather and Historic Climate - When to Go
Barcelona
is blessed with a Mediterranean climate. Summers are warm, and nights
don't cool down all that much. August is packed with travelers, so the
best time to go is May and June, or September through October. October
has the highest rain totals, but they only amount to 4 inches during the
month. For historic climate graphs, see Barcelona Travel Weather.
What to do in Barcelona:
- Walk La Rambla - One of the world's greatest boulevards. Watch people, gawk at performing artists, grab a bite to eat at the market, and watch your wallet.
- Take in the Picasso Museum - One of Barcelona's top art attractions, known for its large collections of the artist's earlier years. Open Tue-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-3pm. 5 Euros, Students pay half that. It's free the first Sunday of the Month.
- Fondació Joan Miró - Get contemporary by visiting a museum featuring the works of one of the greatest Catalan artists in the Placa Neptu. 7 Euro admission. Open Tue-Wed 10am-7pm, Thu 10am-9.30pm, Fri-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-2.30pm.
- Gaudi all over - Visit the Parc Güell that contains the Casa-Museu GaudÃ, where Gaudi lived from 1906-1926. Free. Then visit the Sagrada Familia, the church Gaudi devoted 18 years of his life to constructing and it's not done yet. 5 Euros to get inside, which gets you great views of Barcelona and, for the cellar dwellers, a peek into the crypt containing the fascinating history though photos and drawings.
- Walk the twisty lanes of the Gothic quarter - Free and interesting.
- Lunch at the Mercat La BoquerÃa - at 101 La Rambla, it's Spain's best market. Inside are several tapas bars. Pull up a stool and eat the best that comes to market that day.
- Cathedral Crawl - The cloister is a fine and most peaceful place if you ever need to escape the beautiful hustle and bustle of Barcelona.
- Dinner at Los Caracoles Restaurant - on Escudellers Street in the Gothic Quarter.
- Eat! - Barcelona is one of Spain's best destinations for good eats. Find out more about the food of Bacelona and of the Cataluña region: Spanish Regional Cuisine of Cataluña. An excellent source of information for both restaurants and food artisans in Barcelona is All Those, a beautifully photographed and presented web site
